Today's news: Monday, April 24.
The latest news stories from Edinburgh, Scotland, the UK and around the world.
"My disability vanishes when I'm on a spinning class bike"
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| Spin Instructor Iain McKendry. Photo Credit: Edinburgh Evening News, Scott Louden. |
His parents were told he might never walk when he was
diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 15 months old.
Today, Iain McKendry, has started teaching his own ‘Club
McKendry’ spinning classes at Danderhall Leisure Centre.
He said: “When I’m on the bike I feel like I have become a
totally different person. My disability disappears and my ability shines
through.”
For the full story visit: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/my-disability-vanishes-when-i-m-on-spinning-class-bike-1-4719974
Edinburgh boy survives ‘Jaws’ style shark attack thanks to
rubber shoes
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| Edinburgh youth, Shane McConnell, recovers after a shark attack on his holiday. Photo Credit: Edinburgh Evening News. |
An Edinburgh schoolboy survived a ‘Jaws’ style shark attack
thanks to his rubber swimming shoes blunting the monster’s bite.
Shane McConnell, 12, suffered serious injuries to both legs
when a vicious bull shark attacked him in a harbour on Bimini Island in the
Bahamas.
The boy told how he cried for help when he saw the shark in
the water beside him after he had tripped and fell into the sea.
“I knew I had to get to the ladder, but my lucky cap had
flown off my head and floated away” he said.
“I swam to grab it and, when I was swimming back to the ladder,
I saw half of a shark’s body come out of the water.”
Read the full article: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/edinburgh-boy-survives-jaws-style-shark-attack-thanks-to-rubber-shoes-1-4724151
New campaign aims to end ‘evil’ illegal puppy farming
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| Puppies farmed illegally. Photograph Credit: Peter Devlin. |
Animal charities, trading standards and the Scottish
Government have joined forces to launch a new campaign aimed at bringing an end
to the “evil” puppy farming business.
Sales of pups from illegal factories are estimated to have
netted £13 million in Scotland last year alone.
While the Scottish SPCA said organisations working to tackle
the “damaging” and “evil” industry had had some success individually, it
stressed they now needed to work together and adopt a unified approach.
Readers' Letters: A great waterfront idea has been spoiled
(Dundee)
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| The new office block being built opposite the V&A. Photo credit: Dundee Courier. |
Dundee residents question the planning decisions of their
city’s new waterfront development housing the V&A attraction.
In a letter to The Courier, reader Arthur Gall, said: “Dundee
City Council planners had already made up their minds even before the V&A
foundations had been laid.
They asked the public which design would be their choice for
the V&A, but failed to tell them it would be surrounded, and all but
hidden, in a chaotic gridlocked road network with taller buildings all around,
blocked from view unless you are sailing on the River Tay."
He added: “The Dundee waterfront and the V&A have become
a debacle, an exercise in ruining what could have been a great opportunity.”
For the full letter go to: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/opinion/readers-letters/636544/readers-letters-a-great-waterfront-idea-has-been-spoiled/.
Man buys Honda Civic car because it is ‘cheaper than one train ticket’ (UK)
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| Tom Church makes it to Bristol in his new car for less than a train ticket. Photo Credit. |
A bargain hunter claimed he bought a car to drive from
London to Bristol because it was cheaper than travelling by train.
Tom Church, 27, wanted to visit a friend in the South West
but was put off by the cost of train travel after discovering a peak time
return from Bristol to London can cost £218.10.
He said buying a second-hand car, vehicle excise duty,
insurance and petrol cost less, at £206.81.
Read the full article: https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/uk-man-buys-honda-civic-car-because-it-is-cheaper-than-one-train-ticket/.
Experience: "I was swallowed by a hippo"
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| Paul Templer whose experience was shared in The Guardian. Photo Credit. |
A tour guide working in Zimbabwe recounts his tale of being
attacked by a hippo.
Paul Templer, begins: “The hippo who tried to kill me wasn't
a stranger – he and I had met before a number of times. I was 27 and owned a
business taking clients down the Zambezi river near Victoria Falls. I'd been
working this stretch of river for years, and the grouchy old two-ton bull had
carried out the occasional half-hearted attack. I'd learned to avoid him.
Hippos are territorial, and I knew where he was most likely to be at any given
time.”
For the full account visit: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/04/i-was-swallowed-by-a-hippo.
Researchers develop device that can 'hear' your internal voice
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| MIT’s AlterEgo headset can ‘hear’ internalised voices and speak to the user through a bone-conduction system. Photograph: Lorrie Lejeune/MIT. Photo credit. |
Researchers have created a wearable device that can read
people’s minds when they use an internal voice, allowing them to control
devices and ask queries without speaking.
The device, called AlterEgo, can transcribe words that
wearers verbalise internally but do not say out loud, using electrodes attached
to the skin.
“Our idea was: could we have a computing platform that’s
more internal, that melds human and machine in some ways and that feels like an
internal extension of our own cognition?”, who led the development of the
system at MIT’s Media Lab.
Here’s the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/06/researchers-develop-device-that-can-hear-your-internal-voice.
Protein that eats plastic could be pollution solution
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| Professor John McGeehan at work in his laboratory (Stefan Venter, UPIX Photography/PA). Photo Credit. |
An engineered enzyme that eats plastic could usher in a recycling revolution, scientists hope.
British researchers created the plastic-digesting protein accidentally while investigating its natural counterpart.
Tests showed that the lab-made mutant had a supercharged ability to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most popular forms of plastic employed by the food and drinks industry.
Bottles made from PET are used to package 70% of soft drinks, fruit juices and mineral waters sold in shops and supermarkets, according to the British Plastics Federation.
Although it is said to be highly recyclable, discarded PET persists for hundreds of years in the environment before it degrades.
The new research sprang from the discovery of bacteria in a Japanese waste recycling centre that had evolved the ability to feed on plastic. The bugs used a natural enzyme called PETase to digest PET bottles and containers.
While probing the molecular structure of PETase, the UK team
inadvertently created a powerful new version of the protein.
Lead scientist Professor John McGeehan, from the University
of Portsmouth, said: “Serendipity often plays a significant role in fundamental
scientific research, and our discovery here is no exception.
“Although the improvement is modest, this unanticipated
discovery suggests that there is room to further improve these enzymes, moving
us closer to a recycling solution for the ever-growing mountain of discarded
plastics."
Read the article in full: https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/2018/04/16/protein-that-eats-plastic-could-be-pollution-solution/.
25 places in Scotland to visit before you die
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| Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, with the ruin of St Anthony's Chapel. Photo Credit. |
Scotland is an Aladdin's Cave of natural beauty and
historical interest, that inspire and take the breath away.
The Scotsman narrowed the country's endless list of
fascinating sites to 25 which all visitors should strive to visit before they
die.
Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/25-places-in-scotland-to-visit-before-you-die-1-4683315.
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